A Room Filled with Angels

Scott and I recently attended the Fellowship of Christian Athlete's Marriage Conference in Huntsville. I think it was the best conference I have ever attended and the first conference in which I thought I wished it had lasted just a little longer. (my friends know that I am not so much a "sleep over" kind of gal). There were so many take-aways that I will share maybe later, but one that I want to share with you now.

Sometimes I am gripped with fear at how I will die--an accident? cancer? cruise ship drowning? over-indulgence of pickle juice?? At the conference, singers Jonathan and Lisa Moore led our praise and worship. Very talented couple with sincere hearts and a passion for music and for Jesus. Jonathan told us a story of a conversation he had with a cousin about the passing of the cousin's mother. "Cousin Roy" said that his mother was eaten with cancer. His brother's and sister's knew that her time was very short and she was in and out of consciousness. On this particular night, all the brothers and sisters had other obligations and could not stay overnight in the hospital with their mom. As they were debating about what to do outside of her hospital room, they heard their frail and weak mom shout "ya'll go home tonight, I'm going to be all right. Don't you see the angels? No, mama, they said. We don't see any angels. Well, sweet darlings, mama said, they are all around me......"

Hearing that story brought me peace. How wonderful to think of angels surrounding us and singing to us as we pass from this life to the next. One more thing on my list to look forward to...

Click on the link below to hear the song that the Moore's wrote about this story.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HXHHft0F5U

Freeze

I have finally come out of hibernation enough to post pictures of our winter wonderland last week. When it gets cold, I tend to stay 1) in the bathtub, or 2) among the covers of about 2o blankets. A little more challenging with 2 kids, but we managed to stay warm. Today it is near 50 degrees and it feels like shorts weather! Hurry up Spring!!!!!

Christmas Past

Woo hoo!! A hospital free Christmas!! After Eli's ER visit in 2007 and Caroline's arrival in 2008, our Christmas 2009 was hospital free and full of "magic moments." I took many more mental pictures than actual pictures because it is impossible to capture the excitement in Eli's voice analyzing how Santa will make it down Peep's chimney, or the thankfulness in our heart's as we celebrated the birth of our Christmas Eve baby. We were all together for the first time since David and Caylen's wedding, and for one of the first time's in my life, we had no real agenda. We didn't have to. It was enough just being in the same room together and laughing at each other and telling stories of Christmas pasts. It was a great way to end a very blessed year. A very happy Peeps....

One thing is for sure..... Caroline is going to hold her own...

Sibling love.

Christmas Eve and one last try to take the ornaments off the tree...

Eli stayed awake until about 11:30pm Christmas Eve. He kept telling us to be quiet because he thought he heard Rudolph on the roof.

Uh hello---- how long do we have to wait for Aunt Emily to brush her hair????

My favorite moment of Christmas-- the excitement and innocence of a 3 year old....

Caroline's stash. I was worried that Eli would rather have her stuff.

Luckily, I was wrong. He loved what Santa brought him!

Christmas morning. Caroline's favorite gift: wrapping paper.

All together again.

A moment alone..... (yeah right :)

Caroline deposited a very nice Christmas present in her pants..

Home sweet home.

Love Was Born at Christmas

Love was born at Christmas. This takes on triple meaning for us because not only do Scott and I celebrate the birth of our Savior, but we celebrate the births of our children, both born in December. During this holiday season there is so much to celebrate, and more importantly, so much to be thankful for. I have posted a slideshow that replays the events of our family over the last 2 weeks. We had a small combined party for the kids this past weekend and we are grateful to our family and friends for making the trip to come celebrate this special time with us. The toys in the house are overwhelming-- which is only going to get much worse in 9 days! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to my babies!

Happy Birthday also to my sweet mom, Kristy, Brooke, and Lindsey!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas Cheer

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The time when our eyes twinkle in merry wonder, we "accidently forget" to check our bank account balance, and pictures of me seem to always come out with red-eye that can't be removed because it's not from the camera! Two children with December babies, a mother with a December birthday, Christmas, whew, getting tired already.... BUT it is the most wonderful time because we have so much to celebrate!! Having young children lets me feel like a little kid all over again. I just wish my daddy still paid for everything!! Santa, I believe.... I believe!!!!!!
Dear Santa, I would like to have all the toys....

Eli: Santa, I want cars and trucks, and uh.... would you come home with us?

Caroline: Santa is kind of a bore. Santa: Finally, a kid that can't talk....

Good smile = Getting everything I want....

Can I eat him???

Hope this Frosty doesn't melt......

On Dancer, on Prancer, On Dasher and Vixon

And please notify 911 that Eli is driving........

Working 9 til...11

Sweet Caroline--- the last 3 months you have kept us really working... working to keep you off the steps, working to keep you in your bed at night, and working to keep up with your speed crawling-- and now possibly walking... as of today you have taken 12 steps in a row. Your favorite expression is "uh oh" when you purposely throw things on the floor. We can't exactly get you to say bye-bye to anyone, and I suspect it is because you can't possibly imagine why anyone would want to leave you to go anywhere. Needless to say, you love people and love social activities. At Thanksgiving you did your own performance where you told all of us that you were "SO BIG". You kept raising your hands over and over again because you enjoyed the explosion of applause you received from all your grandparents.
You are easy to please- except when hungry, and when you are put in your highchair, you're all business. So far, you eat just about anything which continues to make your brother very happy- especially when he can feed you something off his plate that he doesn't want.

You call for Daddy all the time, and call for "ma ma ma ma" when you are mad or upset. You had some great quality time with your Dad and me while Eli was in Disneyworld and we loved every minute of you having our undivided attention.

You represent everything good in this world, and we love you with all of our hearts.

Loving Life

That is Eli.... loving life in Disneyworld right now with my Mom and Dad. At 10pm last night (11pm their time) my mom called to tell me that Eli had "worn them out." They had been at Magic Kingdom all morning, and at 3pm they told Eli they should all go take a nap. Eli told them matter of factly,"Meeps there are just too many things..." (to do he means). At 10pm they finally dragged him out of the park only after him saying repeatedly, "just 2 more things, just 2 more things."

Don't we all wish we had that much energy???

Hopefully some new pictures to post this week. Caroline is here with Scott and me and REALLY enjoying playing with all of Eli's toys!